The Budget: a view from FE

The Association of Colleges has published observations and a detailed summary of the announcements in this year's Budget that are relevant to the education and skills sector, and concludes that it's hoping for positive news from the forthcoming Spending Review.

Key points include:

the co-investment rate for smaller, non-levy paying employers will be cut from 10% to 5%. This will take effect in April 2019 for new starts and is expected to save employers £60 million a year in a full year (a total of £240 million over 5 years). In addition the Treasury have confirmed the decision to allow levy paying employers to transfer 25% of their funds to their supply chains (costed at a total of £450 million over 5 years). There is £5 million grant to the Institute for Apprenticeships to identify gaps in the training provider market and to develop new standards. There will also be a Treasury/DfE review of longer-term plans for apprenticeships (Page 61 of the Treasury's Autumn budget book).

there is an extra £100 million funding for a second phase of the National Retraining Scheme (page 61)

there will be three new skills pilots costing a total of £20 million in Greater Manchester covering digital skills gaps, the self-employed and young people not in education employment or training (Page 61).